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Message:: [QUOTE="Roman Collector, post: 8054736, member: 75937"]<img src="https://media4.giphy.com/media/393kszFi2PuCEopURN/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47fygdsphwktse0t6xav1051q9dyyi2h5hmmdho8tm&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Happy Friday, everyone! After a three-week foray into the coins of Faustina II, it's time to discuss a coin issued for her mother. This one is a new acquisition and I think it's fascinating. <img src="https://c.tenor.com/mtw8K2lJEiAAAAAC/spock-fascinating.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> [ATTACH=full]1395319[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140. Roman Æ as, 8.66 g, 23.5 mm, 11 h. Rome, AD 253-255. Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, veiled and draped bust, right. Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Pietas standing left, raising right hand and holding incense box in left. Refs: RIC 1162(b); BMCRE <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1937-1006-9" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1937-1006-9" rel="nofollow">1543</a>; Cohen 45; Strack 1270; RCV –; Walker no. 315 & pl. XXXVII.[1] Notes: Ex Crescent collection. Very rare. Known specimens are limited to the Paris specimen cited by Cohen and Strack, the British Museum specimen, the specimen found at Bath and illustrated by Walker, and this coin. The Bath specimen, the British Museum specimen, and this coin were struck with the same obverse die. I have not had the opportunity to examine the BnF specimen to determine whether it, too, is an obverse die match.</blockquote> Thanks to the work of Martin Beckmann,[2] we have been able to arrange the undated coinage of Faustina I in chronological order and, in many cases, assign a rough date of issue. Beckmann accomplished this by constructing a nearly complete sequence of die-linkages for the aurei, supported by additional shorter, but corroborative, die-linkages amongst the aurei and the sestertii. Moreover, by studying hybrids of dated coins of Antoninus Pius or Aurelius Caesar which bear Faustina's reverse types, and by studying the connections of issues to other dated events, he has been able to assign actual -- not just relative -- dates to certain issues. Faustina's coinage is divided into five main phases commencing with the deification and funeral of Faustina. The issue I discuss today belongs to the fifth and final of these, which commenced in AD 150 for the tenth anniversary of Faustina's death and deification but continued for some years afterward. These coins all bear the late obverse inscription DIVA FAVSTINA, which may appear as DIVA-FAVSTINA or DIVA FAV-STINA. Because this coin was issued in the middle bronze denominations only, it falls outside of Beckmann's die-linkage study of the aurei and sestertii. However, we are on fairly firm ground in assigning a date of AD 153-155 to this issue based upon hoard analysis, which I shall discuss below. The coin bears the reverse legend of AETERNITAS and depicts a female figure in <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/matronly-garments-the-stola-and-palla.346585/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/matronly-garments-the-stola-and-palla.346585/">matronly attire</a>, standing left, raising her right hand and holding an incense box in her left. The coin is most commonly encountered with a bare-headed bust and it was issued in both the dupondius and as denominations, though the as denomination is much more common.[3] [ATTACH=full]1395322[/ATTACH]<blockquote>The bare-headed version of the coin, a copper as, RIC 1162(a); BMCRE 1542. <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1927-0104-7" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1927-0104-7" rel="nofollow">British Museum Specimen</a>.</blockquote> In addition, the reverse motif also appears on middle bronzes which depict the female figure standing before an altar. [ATTACH=full]1395323[/ATTACH]<blockquote>Faustina I, AD 138-140.Roman Æ as or dupondius, 11.92 g, 26.5 mm, 12 h.Rome, AD 153-55.Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right.Rev: AETERNITAS S C, female figure standing left, dropping incense over altar with right hand and holding incense box in left hand.Refs: RIC 1161; BMCRE 1558; Cohen 43; RCV 4641; Strack 1271.</blockquote> Surprisingly, the identity of the reverse figure is a matter of some debate. Cohen[4] identifies her as "Aeternitas (or Pietas?)" and Strack[5] as "Pietas(?)," even on the coins with the altar and incense box. In RIC, Mattingly and Sydenham unambiguously identify the reverse figure as Pietas on both the altar and no-altar coins and also notes the presence of an incense box in the figure's left hand.[6] However, writing alone and at a later date in BMCRE,[7] Mattingly describes the figure on the issues without the altar as "Juno?" and omits the incense box from its description, writing instead, "with l. hand at side"; however, though held closer to the body than on many specimens, the incense box is still visible in the hand in the photographs of the relevant coins online. To his credit, Mattingly describes the figure on the issue with the altar as "Pietas" and notes the presence of the incense box.[8] However, he offers this strange footnote: "Variant of rev., no altar, C. 44; with obv. 2, C. 45: this reverse is very similar to our Nos. 1542, 1543."[9] It is as if he had forgotten what he had correctly written earlier in RIC. Walker[10] correctly notes the presence of the incense box and unequivocally identifies the figure as Pietas. The difficulty identifying the reverse figure on the AETERNITAS series is that the figures are not explicitly identified. Mattingly[11] rightfully clarifies that the coins of the large series of AETERNITAS reverse types issued for Faustina cannot be taken simply as the name of a goddess, Aeternitas. He explains: It is ... difficult to define the character of the figures associated with the legend. They may be regarded as varying representations of the spirit of Aeternitas with emblems borrowed from the goddesses and virtues who inhabit her sphere; or, as so many goddesses, Juno, Fortuna, and the rest; or as Diva Faustina, bearing the attributes of such goddesses in Eternity. The third probably comes nearest the the exact quality of Roman thought but, in the text, we have thought it best to define the types as far as possible by their attributes -- Juno by her sceptre and Fortuna by her rudder. Because the female figure on the reverse of these coins bears the attributes of Pietas – an incense box and on one variant an altar – she is properly identified Pietas, although she appears together with the reverse inscription of AETERNITAS. One of the more interesting features of the coin is that it is what has been termed a "coin of British Association." Both [USER=85693]@Marsyas Mike[/USER] and I have discussed such coins previously <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/roman-coins-of-british-association-faustina-ii-as.334359/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/roman-coins-of-british-association-faustina-ii-as.334359/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/faustina-friday-coins-of-british-association.366911/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/faustina-friday-coins-of-british-association.366911/">here</a>, respectively. These coins apparently comprised a large shipment of medium bronze to Britain in AD 155, as shown by the coin finds at Bath and, apparently, these were issued exclusively for use in Britain. Dated to AD 154/55 is the Britannia type of Antoninus Pius (RIC 934) which comprised 213 out of 299 (71%) of asses found in the Bath deposit.[12] Walker and later Moorhead[13] therefore date the coins of the deposit to a reasonable AD 153-155. Our own [USER=89514]@curtislclay[/USER] dates these British association issues to AD 154-155.[14] Post your coins of British association, middle bronzes of Faustina I, or anything you feel is relevant! ~~~ Notes 1. Walker, D. R. Roman Coins from the Sacred Spring at Bath. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Fascicle 2 of Monograph No. 16, Oxford, 1988, pp. 295 and 298. 2. Beckmann, Martin. Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the Provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012. 3. Walker (op. cit.) notes that of the 9 dupondii and 65 asses of this type in the Bath deposit, only one coin, an as, had the veiled bust. 4. Cohen, Henry. Description historique des monnaies frappées sous l'Empire Romain, Tome II: de Nerva à Antonin (96 à 161 après J.-C.). Paris, 1882, nos. 43-45, p. 416. 5. Strack, Paul L., Untersuchungen zur Römischen Reichsprägung des Zweiten Jahrhunderts, vol. 3, Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Antoninus Pius. Stuttgart 1937. 6. Mattingly, Harold and Edward A. Sydenham. The Roman Imperial Coinage. III, Spink, 1930, nos. 1161-62, p. 166. 7. Mattingly, Harold, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. IV: Antoninus Pius to Commodus. Introduction, indexes and plates. London, BMP, 1968, nos. 1542-43, p. 247. 8. Ibid., no. 1558, p. 249. 9. Ibid, 1558n., p. 249. 10. Walker, D. R., op. cit. 11. Mattingly, op. cit., p. lxii. 12. Walker, D. R., op. cit., pp. 294-95. 13. Moorhead, Sam. "'Coins of British Association,' after David Walker and David Shotter, with Additions by Sam Moorhead." Academia.edu, 26 May 2015, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/12608461/Coins_of_British_Association_after_David_Walker_and_David_Shotter_with_additions_by_Sam_Moorhead" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.academia.edu/12608461/Coins_of_British_Association_after_David_Walker_and_David_Shotter_with_additions_by_Sam_Moorhead" rel="nofollow">https://www.academia.edu/12608461/Coins_of_British_Association_after_David_Walker_and_David_Shotter_with_additions_by_Sam_Moorhead</a>. 14. Clay, Curtis L. "<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42667584" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42667584" rel="nofollow">The Supply of Bronze Coins to Britain in the Second Century</a>." Numismatic Chronicle, vol. 149, 1989, pp. 213-15.[/QUOTE]

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